B&Q owner gets Autumn sales boost

The unseasonal autumn weather and the closure of rival Focus DIY helped ease the sales pressure at B&Q owner Kingfisher today.

The retailer, which operates 536 B&Q and Screwfix stores in the UK and Ireland, said like-for-like sales were down 0.7% in the 13 weeks to October 29, an improvement on the 1.3% decline in the previous quarter.

B&Q's profits were up 20% at £46m (€53.5m) as trading benefited from the closure of Focus DIY and the subsequent conversion of 27 of its stores to the B&Q format.

The autumn weather also boosted sales of garden furniture, helping it sell more barbecues in the last week of September than in the whole month of June.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 of Kingfisher's employees were today celebrating a £7.4m (€8.6m) windfall after two of its share incentive schemes matured, leading to an average gain of £3,516 (€4,094) per person.